This solar image taken at 03:41 UT on March 8, 2011, shows numerous loops of magnetic fields emanating from multiple island-like active regions across the surface of the Sun. The white box encloses the particular active region where the giant magnetic rope was discovered. The image, taken by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) telescope on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory at the extreme ultraviolet wavelength of 171 angstroms, maps the highly charged corona gas material at a temperature of about 1.8 million degrees Fahrenheit (1 million degrees Celsius. ).
NASA/George Mason University